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Andrews University Sinfonietta
Chamber Music Concert
September 13, 2008
Brahms: String Sextet No. 1 in B-flat Major, op. 18 | Mendelssohn: String Octet in E-flat Major, op. 20
Tonight’s concert features two of the finest pieces of chamber music written for strings by the 19th century composers Mendelssohn and Brahms . Sometimes described as a “spirited conversation among equals,” in chamber music it is understood that each player has his or her own part. In many ways this genre reached its zenith with the Viennese classical school of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. Its most common manifestation was the string quartet. Chamber music in the classical era was most comfortable in intimate settings performed for small audiences, or perhaps simply for the enjoyment of the musicians themselves. Throughout their careers Brahms and Mendelssohn, both fine pianists, composed a number of chamber works with piano. Although both wrote for the string quartet, it was with the pieces for expanded string ensemble heard tonight that their mastery of string chamber music was established.
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
String Sextet No. 1 in B flat Major, op. 18
Allegro
Andante
Scherzo
Rondo
Composed 1858-60 during a relatively happy time of his life, the String Sextet in B-Flat, Op. 18 by Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) was the first piece of chamber music without piano to which he gave an opus number. Just as he loathed to jump into symphonic composition (fearing the “tread of giants” behind him), Brahms was also fearful to take on string chamber music– to him unfamiliar territory, in particular the Viennese classic string quartet. (In fact he discarded over twenty attempts in this form before finally completing his String Quartets, Opus 51 in 1873). It was the richness possible from the 24 strings (2 violins, 2 violas, 2 cellos) versus the 16 in the quartet (2 violins, 1 viola, 1 cello) that seems to have inspired his two String Sextets. The eminent violinist Joseph Joachim encouraged Brahms in the this enterprise and it was under his leadership that the first performances of the B-Flat Sextet were heard, first in Hannover, October, 1860, then at the Leipzig Conservatory in November later that year. From the beginning the piece was a success and remains so today.
One of the composer’s most cheerful works, the four movement piece is cast generally utilizing classical forms. Particularly noteworthy is the prominent role given to the first cello in sharing leadership with the first violin, especially in the first and last movements. A tranquil mood is set in the first movement, albeit gently in 3/4 time. The colors darken for the second movement, a set of variations on a ground bass, reminiscent of the Baroque passacaglia or chaconne. Cheer returns for the brief rustic Scherzo movement and its runaway trio. The trio returns for a surprise reprise as the coda. The longest movement is the final rondo. Led off by the first cello, the movement is all sweetness and light interspersed with charming pizzicato sections and culminating with a sudden burst of humor at the end.
Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1947)
String Octect in E flat Major, op. 20
Allegro
Andante
Scherzo
Presto
Chamber music was Felix Mendelssohn’s (1809-1847) companion from his childhood due to the weekly musicales held in his parents’ Berlin home. The sixteen-year-old Felix was indisputably breaking new ground with his immensely popular Octet, Op. 20 for the instrumentation found in two string quartets (4 violins, 2 violas, 2 cellos). While contemporaneous works by Louis Spohr featured this instrumentation as two separate quartets, Mendelssohn’s treatment was for a single ensemble. Felix’s instructions on the score leave no doubt that he was leaning toward a small symphony: “The Octet must be played by all instruments in symphonic orchestral style. Pianos and fortes must be strictly observed and more strongly emphasized than is usual in pieces of this character.” Written as a birthday gift for his violinist friend, Eduard Rietz, the piece became and remained one of the composer’s favorites. It was first performed in the Mendelssohn home in October, 1825, it received another private performance in Paris, 1832, and was first performed publicly in January 1836 in the Leipzig Gewandhaus with the composer playing 2nd viola.
The first violin leads the way in the first movement of this merry but elegant piece built with fine architecture, grace and strength. The second movement is slow, sonorous, and elegiac marked by harmonic surprises. The third, and most popular movement, transports the listener to another world, that of elves and spirits found in Goethe’s Walpurgisnight’s dream, “The flight of the clouds and the veil of mist / Are lighted from above./ A breeze in the leaves, a wind in the reeds,/ And all has vanished” (Faust). The lightness and grace of this movement reminds one of the 1824 piano piece, Rondo capriccioso, and the Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream written the following year. For the Octet’s finale, the 16-year-old struts his mastery of counterpoint, but with good humor and reguarly pulls a vigorous unison theme out of the tangle of motifs. All in all the piece demonstrates the young composer’s command of chamber and symphonic writing for strings.
Program notes by Linda Mack. Copyright 2008.
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